


Thursdays

by cosmic_llin



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-10 01:33:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6932485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>B'Elanna and Harry meet for their regular dinner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thursdays

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thinlizzy2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thinlizzy2/gifts).



> This story takes place shortly after episode 2.21, Deadlock, in which Voyager is split in two and one version of Harry is killed, while the other loses his crew when his version of Voyager is destroyed.

Barring engineering emergencies, away missions and temporal anomalies, B'Elanna and Harry's standing Thursday night dinner date had been a fixture almost since they'd arrived on the ship. So there was no reason it wouldn't be happening tonight.

But B'Elanna was still hovering in her quarters, wondering if she should head straight to the mess hall or... just... check. Just in case.

It was ridiculous.

Her combadge chirped. 'Kim to Torres?'

'What's up, Harry?' she asked.

'Uh... just wanted to check we were still on for dinner?' he said.

Relief flooded through her. 'Of course we are, idiot,' she said mildly. 'I'll see you there in a minute.'

Of course they were still on. No reason they wouldn't be.

* * *

Harry was already at their usual table by the window when she got to the mess hall, and he'd fetched two bowls of Neelix's stew. He half-stood when he saw her, grinning awkwardly, the stars streaking behind him, marking tiny increments closer to the Alpha Quadrant.

'Hey,' she said, sitting. 'How's it going?'

He shrugged. 'OK, I guess.'

'Still weird, huh?'

'Still weird. I'm getting used to it though.'

'It'll feel normal again soon,' she said. She looked down into her bowl, prodding at its contents with her spoon. There was a comment to be made about the stew, some joke about swamp muck or whatever, but she couldn't muster it. Instead she shovelled the stew – which tasted better than it looked – into her mouth so that she wouldn't have to think of more things to say.

'Are you OK?' Harry asked.

He was looking at her knowingly.

'I'm fine,' she said.

'No you're not, you're all hunched over. Something's bothering you.'

'Yeah, something's bothering me... but it's not your problem. You have enough to think about. Don't worry, I'll be fine.'

'Come on, Torres, it's me you're talking to. You don't have to act tough with me, I already know you're terrifying.'

She snorted. 'It's not just that. It's... well... I was with the other Harry, the other you, when... I watched it happen.'

'Oh god, B'Elanna... I'm sorry.'

She looked at him. His warm, sympathetic eyes were the same as they'd always been. His eager lean forward in his chair was the same. Even the way he held his spoon was the same. He was the same Harry, for all practical purposes. The two Voyagers had only been split for a few hours before the other one – the one this Harry had originally come from – had sacrificed herself to save them. There was nothing different about him.

Except that she'd watched her own Harry fall to his death being a stupid hero, and this Harry was still here in his place.

'It's all right,' she said.

'It's not!' he said. 'This whole thing is a mess. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I can't imagine how you must have felt at that moment.'

She'd felt as if she was the one falling into the void, all the breath stolen from her lungs.

'At least you're here now,' she said.

'At least we all are,' he replied.

They ate their stew in silence for a minute or two.

'You know what's silly?' he asked. 'I wasn't sure if we'd still be meeting tonight. Like maybe this version of you wouldn't want to have our regular dinner.'

'I wondered the same thing,' she admitted.

'But here we are,' said Harry.

'How did we settle on Thursdays, anyway?' B'Elanna asked.

Harry frowned at her. 'You don't remember?'

She shrugged. 'Those first couple of months are kind of a blur now. I mostly remember reading technical manuals and panicking.'

'Yeah, I remember that too,' he laughed. 'But our Thursday dinners started because of the handball club.'

'The handball club! Of course! You were convinced it was going to unite the two crews and bring us all together under one beautiful rainbow of harmony.'

'OK, so it didn't quite work out like that. _But_ , you and I did have a couple of Thursday night planning dinners, and Ayala ended up having that fling with Baytart and now that whole crowd goes to the holodeck together every week. So if you think about it, handball club _did_ bring them together under a beautiful rainbow of harmony.'

'Yeah, after there was nearly a fist fight!'

' _But_ , because of my genius foresight, the teams were a mix of Starfleet and Maquis, so at least people bonded over having a common enemy.'

'You planned it that way all along, huh?' B'Elanna grinned.

'That's my story and I'm sticking to it,' said Harry. 'After that I guess we just carried on meeting on Thursdays since it worked with our shift patterns.'

'I'm glad we did,' said B'Elanna. And, because it seemed like a night for honesty, she added: 'Actually I think more than anything else, that helped me to start to feel like a had a place on Voyager.'

'Chief engineer not enough of a place?' Harry teased gently.

She looked down at her hands, twirling her spoon back and forth. 'I don't know. I was happy to be made chief engineer, of course I was, but... apart from Chakotay, all of my Maquis friends were crewmen or ensigns, and I was suddenly on the senior staff. It was a little isolating. It seemed like people didn't quite know how to talk to me. I'd always been one of them, and suddenly I was the boss. It got better, but... I never had that problem with you.'

'I know what you mean,' said Harry. 'Sometimes I feel like the baby at morning briefings – hard to believe it wasn't that long ago I was at the Academy. I still kind of feel like we're the kids and they're all the adults.'

'There's Paris,' B'Elanna pointed out.

Harry shrugged. 'I know. And he's great. But it's different somehow – I guess maybe it's because he grew up with an admiral for a father, but he never seemed to be intimidated by it all. You've seen the way he teases the captain on the bridge sometimes. I can't even imagine feeling that comfortable.'

'If we're on this ship another seventy years, you'll be plenty comfortable by the end of it.'

'Don't even joke about it.'

She smiled. 'Sorry. We'll get home, Harry. You know we will.'

'In the meantime, I guess there are worse places to be than here,' he said.

'I'm glad you made it here,' said B'Elanna, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. 'Wouldn't be the same without you.'

He returned her grin, and they fell silent, watching the blur of the passing stars.


End file.
